Guitarist extraordinaire, songwriter of many insights, droll but wry vocalist, pedal bass player, one-man-band drummer, and between-song-patter-and-joke specialist, Mike Hosty (b. Wauwatosa, WI 09/21/70), has been playing bars and multiple genre events around Oklahoma City since 1990 as one of Oklahoma’s most cherished contemporary live music acts for fans of blues, rock, hilarious songs that often reference the state, and music that can bound from polka and disco to country and right back to rock in the span of two-minute Hosty spiel in between tunes during a show. While he has received some national and regional attention (a song made it on Jimmy Kimmel, his “Molokai Cowboy” is a hit in Hawaii, and his “Oklahoma Breakdown” notched Stoney LaRue a #1 spot on the Texas Music Chart for April, 2007 – and becoming that chart’s #1 song for the year), Mike Hosty toils on a constant basis through the college towns and other appreciative spots he has developed through consistent touring in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.

Hosty sometimes plays foot-pedal bass with a drummer but usually unpacks his own one-man band drum set, with kick, snare, hat, and tambourine provides a steady, hypnotic all controlled by Hosty as he keeps time for himself and are superbly entertaining versions of Hosty-time, revered by the fans who go to shows, calling out the names of their favorite songs, and singing along loudly to choruses (verses often change on the spot). The most regular fans of Hosty’s antics show up like they are on a pilgrimage every Sunday night for his long-time weekly performances at The Deli, in Norman.

Hosty’s albums are musical journeys through corn mazes of the wildly imaginative singer/songwriter’s mind and unique lens through which he views society, especially in Oklahoma. Mostly available from a cardboard box that sits at the side of the stage at Hosty shows, or his website, there are at least eight Hosty CDs released independently by himself with investments by Discover Card. While he doesn’t do as many of the songs from his first anthology (1992 to 1996), the second anthology Un Hombre Malo is a perfect place to begin getting to know his guitar work and lyrical adeptness on songs such as “Mr. T”, “U, Me and B.E.T.”, “Corndog”, “James Brown”, and “Chicken Bone 99”. The songs pack an added punch as recorded by Trent Bell at Bell Labs in Norman. Recorded by the duo, and just released on their name, Hosty Duo, the 2003 brown bag wrapper CD contains his clever song about being a married man working in bars all the time, “Married Man”, crowd favorites “Fraidy Hole” (the Oklahoma tornado song), “Fried Pie”, and the now legendary “Oklahoma Breakdown”, a song that encapsulates a novel of Oklahoma ethos in its 4:46 length. Stoney LaRue liked it so much he made a staple of his Texas shows, causing some Texas fans to accost Hosty south of the Red River and confront him as to why he’s doing Stoney’s song. In any case, the song’s slide guitar vibe, lyrical focus on forbidden (or at least past curfew) love down by the river bed in the back of a friend’s truck endears it to many fans. Hosty’s other 2003 disc, a sort-of stab at a country music album that starts laughing at itself halfway through, preserves live tracks from a Phoenix, Arizona show of 2002, and the standard crowd call outs “Truck Stop Shower Stall” and “Johnny Cash”.

Hosty released two live discs in 2006 with many of his best-known songs as fans are used to hearing them, in a live environment, along with some new favorites developed to that point, “Linda Cavanaugh”, about an unusual affinity for an Oklahoma City television news personality, “Spamoramathon”, and “Disco Truck/Pole”. In 2008, he continued the disheveled guitar comedy with “Eat Yer Mac & Chees”, “Pterodactyl”, “Please Don’t Make Me Love You”, and, finally, a song titled after one of his more recognizable catch phrases when a joke between songs fall flat or just get missed due to general bar noise, “Tough Crowd”. With a quick wit as close to Groucho Marx as you might find alive today, Mike Hosty’s songs are intrinsically Oklahoman yet transcend their local connections into broad-based and humorous insights into society, his in-between song banter and jokes with instrumental examples are tear-inducing funny, and his musical skill is parallel to any others in the blues-rock world playing the stages of the Oklahoma in the current era.Local publications agree, as Oklahoma Magazine voted Hosty Duo one of “Oklahoma’s Best Bands in 2010” after being the magazine’s “Best Band” in 2009; and the Oklahoma City Gazette voted Hosty 2010’s “Best Singer Songwriter”; As of July, 2011, Hosty planned on going back into the studio in July, fulfilling a slew of regional dates through fall, 2011, and continued promoting his teen girl group, The Sopapillas, with their debut single, “You Can’t Tell Me What To Do”, on his own independent label.

Year by Year

2013 Mike Hosty Nominated for BEST SINGER/SONGWRITER by the Readers of OK Gazette gets 3rd Place behind Toby Kieth and Carrie Underwood

2013 Hosty Mentioned on Tonight Show with Jay Leno AGAIN, in the "Dumb Ads" segment for ad for a bar called Taboma again........

2013 Hosty defeats several Suckah MC's

2013 Hosty Duo Best Band in Slice Magazine of Central Oklahoma Gets Second Place

2012 Hosty Mentioned on Tonight Show with Jay Leno AGAIN, in the "Dumb Ads" segment for ad for a bar called Taboma that read "Mike Hosty Plays with Himself"